Trial begins in a string of Everett shootings

EVERETT — Faulty assumptions, faulty memories and faulty forensics are the reasons why Shayne Baker should be acquitted in two Everett shootings that left two dead and another pair injured last June, his defense attorney told jurors Monday.

The prosecution and defense made their opening statements Monday in the trial of Baker, 26, who faces two counts of second-degree murder in the killings of Anthony Jolly, 44, and Anthony Burnett, 48, as well as three counts of first-degree assault.

In a separate case, prosecutors have also charged Baker with second-degree murder and first-degree robbery in connection to the slaying of Scott Pullen in Everett in May of that year. That case remains active.

In her opening statement in Snohomish County Superior Court, deputy prosecutor Sarah Johnson told jurors the defendant was in possession of a .45 caliber handgun and a stolen dark blue Chevy Tahoe in June of last year — items she argues are key to the two shootings.

“After you have heard all of the testimony and received all of the evidence, the state will come before you again and ask you find him guilty on all counts,” Johnson said.

On the morning of June 19, prosecutors allege, Baker shot a man multiple times, once in the chest, near the intersection of 43rd Street and Colby Avenue. The wounded man was left paralyzed, Johnson said.

Security footage reportedly showed the shooter fleeing south on Colby Avenue in the Chevy pickup, according to the charges.

Police also reportedly found .45-caliber bullet casings at the Colby scene.

On Monday, Forde focused her argument on the killings the next day at a home on Lexington Avenue.

“To understand this, you are going to have to enter a world you may not be familiar,” Forde said. “A world of stolen vehicles and firearms that change hands quickly.”

On the afternoon of June 20 last year, Baker was at the house on Lexington with the blue Tahoe, prosecutors allege. A man living there suspected the truck may have been stolen. He confronted Baker.

In response, Baker pulled out a gun and opened fire, according to the charges.

The shooting left Jolly and Burnett dead and injured another man, according to court papers. The defendant was also accused of shooting at a man while fleeing from the house. Investigators found the bodies of Jolly and Burnett in the living room both with bullet wounds to their head, according to charging papers.

The man injured in the shooting told investigators the shooter left in a blue truck. Police “quickly realized” it may have been the same man who shot a bystander on Colby Avenue the day before, Johnson told jurors.

Forde, however, claims the injured man, who is the only living witness, later dismissed Baker as the shooter when shown a photo montage that included the defendant. No one in the house confirmed Baker as the shooter or being at the house at the time of the shooting, the public defender argued.

Forde also said one witness told police she saw Baker at the house 12 hours before the shooting. The public defender argued once she had given detectives the defendant’s name, police, without other leads, “focused in on him as the shooter.”

“People genuinely may not know who shot who, or who’s vehicle just left with the shooter inside,” Forde said.

A day later, police found Baker in the driver’s seat of a blue Chevy pickup on Broadway in Everett with a .45 caliber handgun, according to court documents. He has remained in the Snohomish County Jail since.

Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Miguel Duran will continue Baker’s trial this week.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified deputy prosecutor Sarah Johnson as Elizabeth Johnson. In addition, Sarah Johnson and lead prosecutor Martha Saracino were misidentified in two separate photo captions.

Maya Tizon: 425-334-3939; maya.tizon@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @mayatizon.